


Ruins

by regrettableturnofevents



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, I wouldn't call this spellwood, IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS TOPIC DO NOT READ, On dealing with their marriage, post caligari spell, post part 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:41:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22219477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regrettableturnofevents/pseuds/regrettableturnofevents
Summary: Faustus returns to Greendale after months on the run, but sleepy Greendale is no longer the town he left behind.
Relationships: Faustus Blackwood & Zelda Spellman, Faustus Blackwood/Zelda Spellman
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55





	Ruins

Faustus Blackwood climbed the steps of his ancestral home, the windows remained dark and foreboding, though he couldn’t explain why. After so long away nothing had changed and yet there was something unsettling about returning. The house was exactly as he’d left it. Though after stepping through the door he was not entirely sure that was true. The house was unseasonably warm and if he wasn’t mistaken, he could smell the lingering scent of Zelda’s perfume. But she hadn’t lived there for months there was no way... his thoughts trailed off as he saw light flickering out from under the office door. He draped his coat over his arm and quietly walked through the foyer, careful not to let his steps ring on the marble floor. He nudged the door open and found Zelda bent over a book at his desk. 

“Zelda?” She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, dropping her pen. Her eyes met his almost in disbelief.

“Faustus? What—” 

“Zelda, what are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” She stated indignantly, pressing her lips together.

He gestured around at the oak-paneled room. “This is my house.”

Her face remained neutral, “Likewise.” Evidently bored with the conversation she started reading again.

“Zelda, why are you here?”

Her eyes focused on him once more. “I live here. We are married, if in name only. My claim to this house is a strong as yours, stronger actually, considering you are banished from Greendale.” She stated it simply as though this situation made any sense at all, she picked her pen back up. “Though I am shocked to see you with your head still on your shoulders. If I were you, I would run. Prudence can’t be far behind.” She made a dismissive shooing gesture with her pen and returned to her work.

Of all the things that he’d expected to find upon his return to Greendale, finding her in his house hadn’t crossed his mind. 

“Zelda come here.”

“No.” His sharp blue eyes bore into her. But her eyes were cold and unflinching. “Faustus, we may still share a last name but after the stunts, you pulled since our wedding, you’ve proven the Faustus I know is gone.” She paused and seemed to be waiting for him to speak, but when he instead threw his jacket on one of the leather armchairs that faced the desk she continued. “I am serious, Faustus. I won’t protect you from Prudence.”

“Will you please just talk to me.” She sized him up before finally setting her pen down, though her raised eyebrow made it abundantly clear that talking to him was the last thing she wanted to do. She crossed her arms on the desktop.

“Where are the twins?” She asked. Now he knew why she’d agreed to talk to him.

“Somewhere safe.” Did she honestly think he would have left them in danger? Perhaps he had left things in worse shape than he thought.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Then why are you here?”

“I can’t come back to see my wife?”

“You were surprised to find me here so no, try again.” He sighed,

“I needed to grab a few things.”

“They must have been awfully important to risk your life for them. Well, go ahead.” She dismissed him and picked up her damn pen again and went back to writing in the margin of her book.

He studied her but he recognized her rigid spine and her determined focus on the book, he wouldn’t get anything else from her other than a swift dismissal. He turned from her and started hunting for the books he needed off the tall shelves.

“Why are all of my books moved?” Her fountain pen hit the desk none too gently.

“Because there was no organizational system in this library and I needed to be able to find things.” She snapped, clearly exasperated with his continued presence and being interrupted yet again. She brought herself to her feet and walked over to help him, but he peeled his eyes off the spines of the old books when he didn’t hear the telltale click of her heels on the hardwood floor. She only had her stockings on. The mental list of books he needed to find slipped his mind as his eyes raked over her body, specifically the pronounced bump.

“Zelda, are you pregnant?” She rolled her eyes and smoothed her dress over her stomach.

“Obviously. Now, what are the titles you are looking for?” She asked, trying to hurry him along so he would leave and disappear from her life once more. 

“Is it…” He trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

“Yours? Of course, it is. I haven’t exactly had time to go sleeping around. As much as our marriage is a farce, I’m not the one who stepped out on it.” She said pointedly. He didn’t recall her minding his infidelity when they were sleeping together behind Constance’s back, but he supposed that had been a long time ago. His eyes flicked back down to her stomach still not quite believing she was pregnant.

“Now are you going to tell me what books you want or not? I have a church to run and I don’t have time for this.”

“A church?” 

She leaned against the other armchair and looked at him incredulously. “You didn’t think you’d remain in the position of high priest after everything you did, did you?”

“But you?”

“Yes. Me.” She said dryly while crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, are we done with the twenty questions or are you going to continue to waste my time?” He winced. He’d figured she wouldn’t be happy to see him when they crossed paths again, but he hadn’t expected apathy, anger yes, not this. 

Annoyed by his lack of a response she went and sat behind the desk again, though to her chagrin he sat in one of the armchairs instead of leaving. His brow furrowed and he clearly wasn’t taking any of this well. She hadn’t thought she would see him again, not alive anyway. Whiskey was made for nights like these and not being able to have any to make the night go faster grated on her nerves.

“How…” He raked a hand through his hair, trying to come to terms with the things he had left behind.

“I’m afraid you are going to have to be more specific.” Where did he start?

“The baby…” She raised a brow.

“Well, Faustus, when a witch and a warlock—”

“—No.”

“Then what?” Great, now she was irritated. He had so many questions but had no idea where to even start. His thoughts were interrupted by her leaning back and asking a question of her own. 

“Why aren’t you afraid of Prudence coming in here and finding you?”

“I dealt with her,” he muttered distractedly. For the first time since their conversation started a flicker of emotion went through her cold eyes.

“What? Did you kill her?” Genuine worry etched its way across her features. He wasn’t sure where that came from, Zelda and Prudence hadn’t gotten along since Sabrina’s harrowing. 

“What? No. She’s my daughter.”

“That hardly seemed to matter five months ago.”

“Yes, that.” He sighed heavily and rubbed at his temple where a headache was building. “She helped fill me in.” 

“Fill you in?” Now it was her turn to look confused. 

“I don’t exactly remember the last six months. Only a few snippets really.” Her eyes widened, not sure whether to believe him. Then again what reason did he have to lie? He hadn’t expected to see her. Still, this was Faustus… While she tried to convince herself he was lying, he stood. “I should get out of your way.” 

Of course, now that he finally said something of interest he wanted to leave. Well, she wasn’t going to ask him to stay. She pasted a smile on her face that looked as fake as it felt while she waited for him to take his coat and leave. Instead, he returned to the shelves and scanned the spines before giving up and turning back to her.

“If you don’t mind…” The smile disappeared from her face but she stood to help him. He listed off the legal books he needed. If she was concerned about his choice of reading material, she didn’t show it as she quickly moved about the room and made a stack for him. Though he did notice she kept distance between them. He tried to gauge just how badly things had gone between them. It was something Prudence refused to answer his questions about. Her face had returned to its mask of stone, and he tried to remember back to when that hadn’t been the case. One of the few memories he still had was Lupercalia 

He still needed to come to terms with the fact that she was not only still living in Blackwood Manor but also pregnant with their child. Though from the look she gave him when he walked in, he was not a welcome guest. At least from what he could tell she looked healthy. She walked up to him and handed him the pile of tomes.

“Thank you.” She merely nodded and then retreated a safe distance away and leaned against her desk. He reached for his coat and then walked towards the door. “Good night, Zelda.”

“Goodbye, Faustus.” He walked back through the foyer and without a look back stepped out the door. The instant both his feet touched the porch the door slammed shut behind him and the deadbolt engaged with a startling finality.

**Author's Note:**

> I have had this in my saves since I wrote it shortly after Part 2 came out. I was hesitant to post this for obvious reasons, what happened on their honeymoon is a hot button topic and I respect any interpretation people have about it. This was mine. I only decided to post it because a few people were interested in reading it and writing this sorta helped me deal with the inconsistencies of Part 2. I am not sure if I will continue this, nor am I sure if I can in good conscious write a reconciliation of Faustus' character, let alone Spellwood. If you have an opinion on it let me know, either in the comments or on tumblr. I am LadySpellwood on there. As always, I would love to hear what you think of it, regardless of whether you love it or hate it. 
> 
> I hope you are having a marvelous day :)


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